How Leaders Can Take a Standfor Global Diversity
Senior executives are almost always more conservative
politically than society at large. But as a group, they makea hard left on the issue of migration. As Tuoyo Ebigbeyi, theCOO of American Tower Corporation Nigeria, explained tous, “While there is certainly no shortage of talented,brilliant Nigerians, I believe there will be a net-positive
multiplier effect to the broader economy by enhancing ourperspectives through migration.”
Fully 72% of 850 executives we surveyed agree withEbigbeyi: they also believe that migration strengthens theircountries. Unfortunately, only about 50% of their fellow
citizens favor open immigration.

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This relationship holds true even in the two countries mostopen to migration among those represented in our survey.
In Canada, 69% of executives favor open migration policies
compared to 61% in society at large. Similarly, in Germany,
70% of executives support open migration policies versus
64% of citizens overall, and 22% of executives favor of fully
open borders as opposed to only 8% overall.
What makes this particularly striking is that the executives
we surveyed tend to be more conservative politically thantheir compatriots. They are 24% more likely to self-identify
as “center-right” or “right” than society at large—stances
typically associated with support for more restrictive
migration policies.

WHEN INNOVATION HAS NO BORDERS, CULTURE IS KEY

What do these executives know? Almost all of them (95%)
know that global diversity—that is, working with people
from different countries and cultures—is an issue ofstrategic importance to their companies. This view squares
with our research into the effects of global diversity on
corporate innovation and business results. We found thatcompanies with globally diverse workforces are 26% more
likely to realize clear gains from the creative processes of
their product and innovation teams and two times more
likely to be innovation leaders than those with less diverse
workforces. More broadly, the global movement of talentspreads ideas and helps countries attract capital. Economists
peg the value of mobile talent to the global economy at$2.3 trillion annually. That’s nearly the GDP of India.

Make successes public. GetYourGuide, the Berlin-based
travel platform that reached unicorn status in 2019 and is
now accelerating out of the pandemic, attributes much ofits success to its ability to hire and leverage the talents of a
global workforce. Just ask Tao Tao, the company’s COO andcofounder. He is an enthusiastic advocate of open
migration who often speaks publicly about its benefits forhis company and Germany and the urgent need toembrace it at a policy level. His words carry weight because
GetYourGuide is growing fast—and in no small part thanks
to its high level of global diversity. Some of the ideas Taochampions, such as a points-based visa program for skilled
talent, have found their way into the coalition agreement of
the next German government.

The moral case and the business case for talent migration
are both strong. Yet migration remains a highly politicizedand polarizing issue. How than can leaders embrace andsupport global talent migration without becoming lightning
rods for political controversy? Here are some ideas:

Build a coalition of like-minded leaders. Chobani, thedairy produce manufacturer founded by Hamdi Ulukaya, aTurkish-born immigrant to the US, stands out for hiring
300 refugees (15% of the company’s workforce). But
Ulukaya, who is arguably one of the most outspoken
corporate leaders on migration, leverages the company’sefforts by enlisting other companies in the quest for global
diversity. In September, he launched the Tent Coalition for
Afghan Refugees, which brought together Amazon, Uber,UPS, Pfizer, Tyson Foods, and two dozen other companies
to provide relocation services, training, and jobs for
Afghanis who fled their country in the wake of US
withdrawal.

Lead by example. In 2015, in the face of skilled labor
shortages, Kremer Machine Systems, a German specialist
in industrial assembly, began hiring Syrian refugees.
Though the firm had to invest at first to overcome language
barriers, cultural differences, and improve the skills of therefugees it hired, the company found that thoseinvestments usually paid off in six months or less.
Rise to the occasion. In the wake of the war in Ukraine,
civil society organizations, foundations, and corporate
leaders in Europe sprang into action. Under the umbrellaorganization Alliance4Ukraine, NGOs, corporates, andstartups came together to form an effective public-private
ecosystem of funding partners, political support (includingthe German chancellor), and execution players. One ofthese players, a job-matching platform called Imagine
Foundation, has managed to assemble a broad coalition of
more than 800 corporate partners to form a hiring network
for refugees from the war in Ukraine as well as those
fleeing armed conflict and political oppression elsewhere.

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None of the ideas above will produce an overnight change
in how societies at large—and policy makers inparticular—feel about global migration. But in tandemwith the voices and support of the many organizations andcitizens already in favor of more open borders, they cannudge politicians to reexamine immigration laws. The
benefits of global diversity are created in large part bybusiness. It’s time for business leaders to act—for thebenefit of global talent, local citizens, and our societies.

WHEN INNOVATION HAS NO BORDERS, CULTURE IS KEY